


A glass of water at the party

by mybluebucketofsnow



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: F/F, Fem Baz Pitch, Fem Simon Snow, Fem SnowBaz, Flash Fic, Office AU, Office Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 02:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19898368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybluebucketofsnow/pseuds/mybluebucketofsnow
Summary: The worst part about dating your coworker is when you break up and you still have to see him on every office party being handsome and confident, while you just wonder is your skirt is ironed well enough.I was doing just that, nervously sliding my hands atop of the blue cloth, wondering how many gulps of a cocktail I need to make to behave in the same effortless way as he did. I did three more, before realizing that there was only ice clicking in my glass.“How about another one?” A voice said above my shoulder and I had to make a full turn just to see Baz standing near me. She looked flushed and a bit drunk.“No thank you,” I said politely. To be honest I didn’t like her that much. She was one of those cool people, always acting like everything was just another opportunity for the ironic comment. “I think I will switch to water.”





	A glass of water at the party

The worst part about dating your coworker is when you break up and you still have to see him on every office party being handsome and confident, while you just wonder is your skirt is ironed well enough.

I was doing just that, nervously sliding my hands atop of the blue cloth, wondering how many gulps of a cocktail I need to make to behave in the same effortless way as he did. I did three more, before realizing that there was only ice clicking in my glass.

“How about another one?” A voice said above my shoulder and I had to make a full turn just to see Baz standing near me. She looked flushed and a bit drunk.

“No thank you,” I said politely. To be honest I didn’t like her that much. She was one of those cool people, always acting like everything was just another opportunity for the ironic comment. “I think I will switch to water.”

“Oh really? Do you think water will help to be brave enough to go talk to him?” She said and nodded where I was pining.

Usually, I would have ignored her. I mean, I am smart enough to ignore people like her. In office she was self-confident enough to do mistakes and not even care, while there were people like me who later had to deal with the consequences.

Today was different though. I just finished my second cocktail and was already annoyed with how perfectly effortless and hip she looked. “What do you care?” I snapped. “Shouldn’t you be hanging out with your friends only?” Yes, it wasn’t only her usually, she was surrounded by a group of alike, smoking cigarettes on the back of the office and probably discussing their overpriced hairstyles.

She raised her perfect eyebrow. “Oh, you mean George and Luka? They already left to a club. They said this party’s boring.”

Of course, they did, I thought. “So, why are you still here then?” I was at a point of irritation and drunkenness where I didn’t care if I was getting rude, well not to people like her anyway.

“I thought I might see someone here tonight.” She gave me a long look. “But apparently this someone is not that interested.”

“Right,” I said. I really doubted that there would be those mysterious someone who wouldn’t be interested in hanging out with her. Especially considering how beautiful she looked tonight. I didn’t say it though. “How about another drink after all?”

She nodded. “Water for you though.”

When she came back with two glasses of water I was still staring in a crowd, more out of habit than from real necessity. “So what happened there? Are you two together or something?” She asked.

I took a glass and made a sip. “We used to be. Not anymore.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing really. He thought we were spending too much time together, I thought we were not spending enough.”

“What an idiot.” She gave me one of her long looks again. “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”

I snorted. “No, you are the one who looks beautiful and not only tonight.”

“Really? Simona Snow thinks I look beautiful and not only tonight.” She repeated to herself slowly with amusement.

“I mean, you are always so cool. It’s actually pretty annoying.”

She grinned. “Do you wanna see something?”

Without waiting for my answer she took off and I followed her outside the crowded room to a staircase, and then to the next floor. We stopped before the closed door with “Under Construction” sign. Baz swiped her security card and pushed the door open.

The room was cold and there were hundreds of tiny green and red lights inside.

“This is our new data centre.” Baz hopped on the empty table. She behaved in her careless manner and I once again wished that I would be just a little bit more like her.

I carefully walked inside and came closer, watching the mixture of lights on her face. I tried not to think about all the corporate laws that we were probably breaking.

“So who is this special someone you hoped to meet tonight? And how can it be that he is not interested?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why all the straight people assume that everyone around is the same?”

“Didn’t you just make the same assumption about me as well?” I snapped. “You don’t know me that well after all.”

“I know that you are extremely stubborn and good at what you do. I know that you put one spoon of sugar in your coffee, but never eat any sweets with it. I know that your favourite colour is blue. And I was waiting for almost half a year for you to break up with this jerk.”

I stared. “What I mean to say, Simona Snow, is that the person I hoped to charm tonight is standing right in front of me.” She stopped and I could see that she was hesitating. “I wanna ask you out, despite the fact that you apparently find me annoying. I promise I can be better.”

Her voice was calm, but through that calmness, it was trembling a little bit and for the first time I didn’t see any trace of her usual self-confidence. “You don’t have to say anything right away. And we can go back to the party.”

“We are not going anywhere.” I took her hand. Her fingers were cold. “Half a year” line was pulsing in my head and I didn’t know what I can reply to make it feel equally important.

“You are annoying,” I said. “But you can’t be any better.”


End file.
